


Hot Tea Cures Nightmares

by GayFrankensteinsMonster



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Comfort, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff, Gen, Light Angst, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Romance, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 01:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8777167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayFrankensteinsMonster/pseuds/GayFrankensteinsMonster
Summary: Angus is just a little boy, and little boys shouldn't have to see the things he's seen. Taako isn't a great parental figure, but he's good at wrangling in humans. Magnus is so tired.Now featuring part two: Taako is bad at everything, but so is Magnus, so he returns the favor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first TAZ fic............... uh  
> i have other stuff i need to work on............................... thanks.................. for reading. i'm not good at things.  
> ango is a lil boy he needs parents. and this can be read as like..... pre magnus/taako?? if you squint?????? but tbh i just think of mags as a cuddly sad fuck so he just. hugs his friends. taako says mags probably isnt into dudes but he is, he's just like. traumatized

Out there, in the observable universe, someone has a list of things that little boys should be doing. Going to school is on there. Playing kickball or practicing low-stress magic or reading is on there. Having friends their own age is on there. Working for a shadowy unknowable moon organization tasked with the protection of the realm is not on there. That is on an entirely different plane. The good list is right here, straight up on someone’s desk in Neverwinter or something, and the other list with the Bureau of Balance and all that kind of stuff, voidfishes, grand relics, all that- That list is in the underworld. That list is in somewhere fiery and horrible that no one should go. That list shouldn't have to exist. That list was created specifically because of Angus McDonald. Angus went through a whole bunch of stuff that he shouldn't have to. He'd worked with a literal militia as a ten year old! And now he was working with- Well. The shadowy moon organization! Arguably something he should not be doing. And since he'd been working with that shadowy moon organization, he'd seen some stuff. Some really bad, really terrible stuff. 

So when he woke up in the library sweating and shaking, it wasn't  _ necessarily _ a surprise, but he really would have preferred if it didn't happen. He peeled his head up off of the notebook resting on the table. Darn. He must've fallen asleep while studying his spells. He rubbed at his cheek, trying to wipe away the errant pencil marks. It was cold and dark, the candle next to him burned down and sitting in a puddle of cooled wax. Darn! With shaky hands he picked at the wax, worried for a moment that he'd get in trouble. He couldn't remember what he'd been dreaming about, but it wasn't good. He tucked his hands up under his arms, shoulders hunched as he looked around. He could feel himself hiccuping, and tried to take deep breaths to steady his nerves. Gathering up his books and leaving the candle to be cleaned up tomorrow, he walked steadily from the library to the elevator. He tapped the emblem on his bracer to it, stepping in. His mind blanked. He could go back to his room and sleep again, it was pretty late.

He didn't really want to be alone at the moment. He was scared. Fumbling, Angus pressed the button to the lowest floor. Elves didn't sleep, so if he went to visit Taako to ask for some spell advice, that'd be fine. He wouldn't be a bother. Angus nodded as he traveled down to the reclaimer’s suite. This would be fine. It'd be fine! 

Angus knocked carefully on the door at the end of the hall. He glanced back at the elevator, wondering if he had time to back out still. That would be the best idea, right? He should go. Before anyone answered the door. Right. He turned on his heel, and heard a click and a squeak. 

“Ango, dude. There's people who need to sleep here.”

Angus jumped, spinning back around and standing rigid. “Sorry, sir! I was just wondering- I was wondering if it would be okay if I came and studied with you tonight!” He held his breath, clutching his books to his chest. 

Taako blinked once, ears flicking from up to down to up again. He scratched a hand over the side of his neck and through his hair, pulling at a lock of coiled black hair. 

“I mean, I don't have to sleep, so like. Fuck do I care. You want to come in?”

“Very much so, sir!” Angus scrambled in, ducking into the room with a false air of confidence. Taako watched him as he set his books down on one of the tables, perching uncomfortably on the edge of a seat. He cleared his throat, trying to give his mentor a convincing smile. When Taako raised his eyebrows and rested his hands on his hips, Angus’ smile faltered, “Sir?”

“Look, kid, I'm not stupid. Well,” Taako cocked his head, ears flicking again. “I'm not  _ so incredibly  _ stupid that I don't know how kids work. You had a nightmare, right?”

Angus was quiet as he thought, blinking and looking down at his hands. “Well, it wasn't. It wasn't that bad, really!”

“Yeah, you're like a fetus. I think any nightmare is pretty out of your realm, pumpkin.” Taako popped his back, sliding a hand over his belly. “Come on, you need sleep. You can stay the night with me.” 

“Oh, gosh, sir, are you- Are you sure?”

“My man,  _ apparently  _ I've got some kind of human magnetism. I'm like a pillow trapped in the body of an elf. Or, well. Something like that, according to Magnus.” He trailed off, glaring back into his room. That was weird. Angus cocked his head, eyebrows furrowed, and- Oh!

“I’m sorry, sir, if you want I can leave you two alone-”

“Fuck!” Taako barked out a laugh, “Angus, kiddo, he's not- I don't think he's into guys, my man. He's just a cuddly son of a bitch. And he's got depression or something. So when he gets down he just crawls into bed and grabs me. It's not like I care, I can just keep on reading or whatever.” He shrugged, fixing the collar of his shirt and standing up on his tiptoes. 

“Oh. I thought maybe you were- Romantically involved, I guess.”

“Not to my knowledge, kiddo. He's just a hugbear. Figuratively.”

Angus nodded, fidgeting with his hands again. He considered his options. He could stay the night and sleep again, and hopefully not have more nightmares. That'd be pretty okay. Or he could stay up and practice if he wanted, maybe figure out some spells and hone his wizardry skills a little more. A ferocious yawn overtook him as he considered his options, and he felt his face flush. Well, that kinda chose for him. Taako snickered and turned out of the room, making his way into what looked like a kitchen with a chirpy “Wait there!” tossed over his shoulder. Angus sat, waiting obediently and fidgeting. When Taako re-emerged a couple minutes later, he had a mug orbiting near his head. It levitated over to Angus before clattering down onto the table. 

“Hot peppermint tea with lavender and milk. If that doesn't knock you the fuck out, I'll do it myself.”

“Oh, well, thank you, sir, but I think it would've been good if you'd just set it down, instead of-”

“I'll retract my offer, kid.”

Angus plucked the mug up off the table, smiling a little as his glasses steamed up. Holding the mug in both hands, he curled up, kicking his shoes off to draw his legs up onto the chair. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don't get used to it.” 

Angus didn't respond, sipping at the tea and closing his eyes. He focused on dismissing all the images from his nightmare, feeling the back of his throat warm from the tea. Within a few minutes of him starting to drift off, there were footsteps behind him and he was scooped up, lifted off the chair. Blinking, he stretched his legs and cupped his hand over the top of his mug to keep it from spilling. Magnus was carrying him. He must've woken up. 

“Hello, I'm sorry for waking you, sir-”

“Nah, don't worry ‘bout it, Ango. Nightmares?”

“Yessir.”

“Me too.”

Magnus squeezed Angus slightly, nudging the door to Taako's bedroom open with his hip. Oh, that was a messy room. There were candles dripping on the dresser and incense ash coating everything in what looked to be an inch-thick layer. Taako’s umbrella was leaning against the bedframe, little sparks sputtering out of the tip intermittently and blackening the floor. Magnus set Angus down gently on the edge of the bed and took the mug out of his hands, bundling him up in one of the spare blankets. His nose and cheeks were red, bags under his eyes standing out as he rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead and sniffed. 

“Are you okay, sir?”

“Whuh- Yeah, I'm good. Allergies.”

Magnus fell into the bed across from Angus with a loud thump, rolling onto his side with a pillow clutched around his head. Taako was standing in the doorway, watching with his ears canted downwards. He'd looped a lock of hair around his finger and was pulling it downwards, tongue poking out of his mouth. Angus just curled himself up more in the confines of his blanket, eyes closing as he drifted off to sleep. 

He was woken up a few hours later by shuddering, breathless sobs. Magnus was lying on the window seat with his arms wrapped around Taako, head pressed into his chest. Taako was brushing a hand through Magnus’ hair, talking to him in a low tone of voice. Angus couldn't see them totally clearly from this angle, especially not with his glasses lost in the bed somewhere, but it looked like Taako’s ears were pinned against his head as he talked. Magnus was repeating something that Angus couldn't hear, clutching his hands in the back of Taako’s shirt. Angus watched as Taako leaned down and pressed his face into the top of Magnus’ head. Taako shot Angus a glare from the mess of red curls, and he decided that the best course of action here was to roll back over and close his eyes again. He fidgeted inside of the blanket he was bundled in, tucking himself in tighter. 

Angus heard something in Magnus’ crying, before he fell back asleep. It sounded like a name, but he wasn’t sure. All he could do was pull his pillow up and hug it tightly, hoping things would be better in the morning. 

He hoped things would be better. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako is an emotional rock and Magnus is really, really bad at boiling water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> literally what the fuc. what the fuc. why do i keep writing this. wht the fuck. this wasn't proofread and also have i mentioned what the fuck. i have a tumblr at locus-hocus-pocus so if you want more of this gay shit drop me a line

Taako had a couple ways of comforting people. His first was to offer useless advice parceled in a joke and then never speak to them again. His second was to reluctantly listen as they talk, nod along, and then never speak to them again. Taako was a master of Matrix-ing his emotions. He knew kung fu. He was dodging emotional attachment like a motherfucker up in here. But, his fucking idiot coworkers were not making this easy. Merle he could appreciate. Merle was like a shitty tiny dad that didn’t want custody of him and Magnus so he was keeping them at arm’s length for when the divorce dropped. Sure, he “cared” about them, but he didn’t make it obvious and he didn’t wake everyone up by panicking in the middle of the night. Taako absolutely panicked in the middle of the night, but he did it like a fucking courteous grown elf and soundproofed his room. 

It figures that the soundproofing would be useless on the  _ worst _ night he’d had in several years.  He’d been reading through an old journal of his, running through the scribbled recipes in his head and snacking off a plate of grapes when something caught in his chest. When pressed about it later he’d brush it off. But he’d seen the one, single, fucking recipe that he’d screwed up- It hadn’t even been his screw-up, it had been- 

The name made something in his stomach churn and he bolted. He slammed the bathroom door open and heaved into the sink, hands yanking his hair back from his head. Shuddering, he looped his hair into a sloppy bun as he tried to steady himself. Deep breaths, kid. Taako’s ears perked up as he heard thumping coming from one of the rooms, and fuck, no, dammit. This was not something he wanted to explain. Fuck. Magnus’ heavy hand knocked against the door. 

“You okay in there?” 

Inhaling, Taako glared at himself in the mirror. Button up, stupid. “I’m fine! Just- You know how it is! Probably the mess hall, uh-” The knob turned and the door peeked open, Magnus’ head poking in through the crack. “So I tell you I’m fucked up on mess hall salmon and that’s what you do. Cool cool cool cool cool. Sicko.” 

“That’s not-”

“I mean, not to yuck on your yum, but c’mon, my dude, don’t try to get your rocks off on all this.” 

“You’re crying.”

Taako paused, blinking and pressing the back of his hand to his eyes. Shit, he was. Play it off, play it off. “Well, yeah, someone done screwed this food right up. This is like- Okay, you’re just leaving. See you later.” He shook his head, bewildered. Humans were fucking bizarre when they were still sleep-addled. Taako took a moment to compose himself, brushing his teeth and staring in the mirror to psych himself up. All good. All good, he’s fine. Perfect. He tugged at his tunic and stepped out of the bathroom, and was promptly ambushed. Magnus swooped him up into his arms, and Taako shrieked. Taako full-on, honest to gods, shrieked. And reflexively, his hands went up to cast a spell before the logical part of his brain stepped in and shut it down. Magnus seemed relatively unfazed by this, and that wasn’t making Taako super happy. 

“Mags, I could’ve killed you, holy fuck.”

“Nah.”

“What do you mean “nah”, I was about to magic missile your ass!” 

Magnus looked down at him, raising his eyebrow. “No you weren’t.” 

Taako folded his arms, glaring at nothing in particular . “I was.” 

“You weren’t.” He said finally, setting Taako down on the couch. Taako expected him to sit down next to him and “talk it out”, do some kind of therapeutic bullshit. But no, Magnus just set him down gently and walked off into the kitchen. Weirdo. Taako hiccuped once, taking a deep breath and trying to settle himself down properly. His nerves felt like live wires, and he fiddled with a loose string in his sleeve as he tried to steady his breathing. Was he still freaking out? He should be able to calm down. Dammit. Dammit. 

Magnus reappeared from the kitchen, teapot in one hand and two mugs in the other. Jesus, he had fat ol’ bear paws. 

“Don’t try and use my trick against me, Magno, it’s not gonna work. Elves don’t sleep.”

“I’m not. It’s, uh- It’s just the normal tea. The mint blend you have makes me sick.” 

“You allergic to peppermint and lavender?”

“Something like that.” Magnus settled down next to Taako, busying himself with pouring two mugs. His hair was stuck up on one side, lines on his bare chest from where he must’ve been sleeping on rumpled sheets. He handed a mug off to Taako, keeping the other one to himself. “C’mere.”

“What, I’m not some kind of sappy, squishy, human loser. I’m a rock, baby, I’m emotionless. I’m solid.” And Magnus draped an arm around Taako’s shoulders, pulling him close against his side. His hand came up to brush through Taako’s hair, resting on the back of the couch. “This is sappy human stuff, kemosabe.” 

“I’m a sappy human. Taako?”

Taako’s ear batted against Magnus’ hand, and he drew his knees up as he leaned against him. 

“Present and accounted for.”

Magnus was quiet for a moment, catching the tip of Taako’s ear between his thumb and finger. A soft chirp bubbled up in the back of his throat and his eyes drooped, tension unspooling from his shoulders. He curled both his hands around the mug. 

“You can talk to me about stuff, I mean, I’ve told you about, well- Some, things, at least. But you’re my friend, you’re a really good, friend.  _ And  _ you’re a really shitty liar. So. If you want to talk about things, you can.” He sank down, propping his feet up on the coffee table. Taako blinked once, taking a sip of his drink and burning his tongue. That was really bad tea. Boy, that was bad. He pressed his face against Magnus’ hand, moving to take it in his own and kiss a scar over one of the knuckles. 

“Okay. Mango?”

“Yup.” 

“I get that romance isn’t your thing, now, cause of. Stuff, but. I do love you.”

“I love you too, Taakito. Lemme guess, you’ll never say it again?”

“If I do it’ll be because I’m bein’ ripped apart by bugbears. You hear me? Commit it to memory.” 

Magnus laughed, flicking Taako’s nose with one finger. 

“Consider it committed. Do you want to help me bake breakfast?”

"Fuck, yes."


End file.
